30 October 2010

Raging

So... literally, I wouldn't hurt a fly. Most of the year I practice catch-and-release, even those awful bot flies that lay eggs on animals which turn into warbles; even the horseflies that bite so hard three days later you still have a welt that still hurts.

I hate killing things, yes, even insects. Most of the time I'll make an exception if it's biting me (mosquitoes, ticks), but if it's just there (like a wasp nest in the garage), I don't see any harm leaving it there. Most of the time.

I employ repellents. Sage for beetles, citronella for gnats, etc, but that's not what this post is about.

It's about flies.

The flies know cold weather's coming, and they're swarming indoors every chance they get, like people would if they had any sense. And I'm on a rampage with the fly swatter. It's bad when I don't feel comfortable chopping potatoes or peeling onions in the kitchen for the flies lighting everywhere. I even drank one yesterday. Bleh!

I've got fly strips hanging too. I hate those almost as much as what they're there to control. My house spiders aren't keeping up, but the answer probably isn't to allow more spiders. Fly swatter rampage. Oh my karma.

So, taking a break from the killing spree I sat at the kitchen table and worked a while on th'Mr's hat. It's one he requested specially, "like the one Pete Seeger wore at the Obama inauguration." I can't promise it'll be just like that, since Solmate doesn't sell the pattern nor the yarn anymore, but I did find a pattern online (of course, where else does one find patterns these days) and a couple balls of Taos in almost contrasting colors on Ravelry. It'll be a great hat, and he'll love it!

So there I sit, trying to regain my equilibrium (from the killing spree) by knitting (what better way to calm down), when into my head pops the image of the Rand Paul campaign worker stepping on the MoveOn member's head. With that image came the memory of what someone said on facebook, to the effect of, "that guy would be sorry if he stepped on my (the poster's) head," and suddenly I had a vivid picture in my head of being that woman on the ground, and my reaction.

It was so violent! My reaction, I mean! And I felt it, physically. Pulse, temperature, blood pressure. I thought, "uh, oh - I just killed my liver a little more!" I had to stand up and go back to killing flies.